Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Shooting in London This Summer

Fans are waiting with bated breath to learn who’re playing the titular Guardians of the Galaxy – whose ranks include Peter Quill/Star-Lord and Drax the Destroyer – in director James Gunn’s Marvel comic book adaptation. The answer(s) are coming soon; though, of late, the actor shortlist seems to be growing, not narrowing.

In the meantime, Marvel Studio’s getting things in order for shooting beginning this summer, shortly after the Russo brothers wrap production on Captain America: The Winter Soldier – that being the other Marvel Cinematic Universe installment scheduled for 2014.

Guardians is a movie of interest for numerous reasons, not least of which being it’s the Phase Two entry that directly leads into Joss Whedon’s The Avengers 2 (with the official subtitle TBD) in May 2015. Similarly, it should properly introduce that sequel’s antagonist Thanos, following The Mad Titan’s fleeting appearance in the Avengers‘ mid-credits sequence.

Screen Daily is reporting that Guardians begins lensing at Shepperton Studios (of the Pinewood Group) in London sometime this summer. Director Alan Taylor shot portions of Thor: The Dark World on those sound stages, during production in the tail-end of last year; thus, keeping that Marvel sequel on schedule for a November release, much like both The Winter Soldier and Guardians open twelve months after principal photography starts on the respective projects.

Gunn’s movie will require Green Lantern-levels of green screen material (and then some), to create its inter-galactic settings and characters. Thus, there shouldn’t be much in the way of on-location filming or leaked set photos for fans to inspect (like what happened on Avengers and the Thor sequel).

Here is the (not) official Guardians synopsis:

[‘Guardians’ is about] a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.

There are questions much bigger than casting decisions looming over Guardians, be it concerning what, exactly, is this “twisted” take on the property that Gunn has up his sleeve; not to mention, whether or not the colorful alien characters focused on in the film will be as endearing to general audiences as Marvel heads are hoping. In that sense, Guardians is the most intriguing MCU installments since Thor, with regard to us finding how the fantastical property translates on the big screen (and still upholds its duties as an entry in a shared movie universe).

Iron Man 3 releases May 3rd, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8th, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4th, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st, 2014, The Avengers 2 on May 1st, 2015 and Ant-Man on November 6th, 2015.